Diversity and First Impressions

This is an approach taken from exercises provided to school age children, but I thought it could be fun and work for adults as well...the exercise is called "Who am I? Who are you?" and it focuses on common questions and mistakes that we make when meeting others for the first time. Those who decide to participate in this piece should think about these two things...How do I see myself and how do others see me?

Often what we see when we meet someone new may not always give an accurate picture of one's identity. Misconceptions about others are quite common and lead to many common diversity issues. Stereotypes of people, cultures, and groups are typically what cause so many misconceptions. For instance, many people assume that all transgender individuals are gay...this in fact is not true. In fact, transgender has to do with gender identity...NOT sexual preference.

The questions I now pose are as follow:

1. Have you ever experienced a time when someone assumed something about you upon first meeting you that was not accurate?

2. What did they assume about you?

3. How did you respond?

Submissions should be one page in length...and since my zines are 1/2 size I would suggest completing two 1/2 pages for yr submission. I am not yet sure of a due date...it will have to depend upon the response or lack of response I receive from this posting.

Replies to This Discussion

This sounds pretty interesting. Because of the many wacky interests that I've had, I've found myself in this type of situation on several occasions. I'm not sure that my particular experiences would be all that interesting to others, however...

Blake...any experience is interesting to me...it is always interesting to see things from the perspective of others.

Blake said:

This sounds pretty interesting. Because of the many wacky interests that I've had, I've found myself in this type of situation on several occasions. I'm not sure that my particular experiences would be all that interesting to others, however...

I get this sort of thing at skating ALOT, often from young kids. I've had some classic questions (for instance, skating backwards and a kid asked if I was training for the Olympics. I laughed so hard I nearly fell.) I might do a few if you'd be interested.

Hi, this sounds interesting, however I get inaccurate assumptions made about me practically every day and everywhere I go...it would be pretty difficult to pin down just one example and answer in the structured way you have requested. Also, would you like your answers returned in that manner (ie. 1)...... 2)... 3)....) or all as one flowing piece?
One more thing, when you said that "many people assume that all transgender individuals are gay", did you mean that they assume that their chosen gender is gay or that their biological sex is? Eg. Do you mean that the assumption would be made that a transman is attracted to men or that the transman would be (wrongly) assumed to be a lesbian?

I get this sort of thing at skating ALOT, often from young kids. I've had some classic questions (for instance, skating backwards and a kid asked if I was training for the Olympics. I laughed so hard I nearly fell.) I might do a few if you'd be interested.

Hi Kira... you do not have to do it in a particular order....one flowing piece would be perfect! And if you have more than one example or experience to share...please feel free to submit as may as you like.

As for yr question re: transgenders being gay...what I was referring to was the fact that many people assume that a transgender male will be attracted to and/or prefer male partners.

Thanks!

Kira Swales said:

Hi, this sounds interesting, however I get inaccurate assumptions made about me practically every day and everywhere I go...it would be pretty difficult to pin down just one example and answer in the structured way you have requested. Also, would you like your answers returned in that manner (ie. 1)...... 2)... 3)....) or all as one flowing piece?One more thing, when you said that "many people assume that all transgender individuals are gay", did you mean that they assume that their chosen gender is gay or that their biological sex is? Eg. Do you mean that the assumption would be made that a transman is attracted to men or that the transman would be (wrongly) assumed to be a lesbian?